


What Really Matters

by Pickwick12



Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Found Family, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29795673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pickwick12/pseuds/Pickwick12
Summary: Very early in Peter’s and Neal’s agreement, Neal is over at the Burkes’ for the afternoon with just El, and, to her surprise, he lets her see a side of him he barely ever shows to anyone.One-shot about two main characters bonding & also maybe explains why Neal likes eating Cornish hens at the Burke house.
Relationships: Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	What Really Matters

“Is there anything I can do to help? I know my way around a kitchen.” 

El looked up from washing a raw Cornish hen to find her husband’s CI in the kitchen doorway. She was about to tell him not to worry, that she had it under control, when she realized he was probably bored. Being stuck in the house with no case and no Peter was probably not his idea of a scintillating afternoon.

“How do you feel about chopping vegetables for a salad?” she asked. He looked visibly relieved. “I’d—be happy to.”

“I should film this,” Elizabeth observed, once she had outfitted him with a cutting board and several carrots. “You look like a chef in a movie. Maybe a Hallmark Christmas special. Bored corporate hack meets small-town, but very attractive, local chef and decides to leave the ways of the city behind.”

“I impersonated a chef once,” Neal confessed. “They fired me after a few weeks, but their regulars said my food was better than the last guy’s.”

El nodded. “Your knife skills are pretty impressive.”

Neal smiled. “You do realize you just gave a criminal a large, very sharp kitchen knife. A lot of people would think that was a bad idea.”

“Is it a bad idea?” El asked, moving her Cornish hens to the counter for seasoning.

“Of course not,” Neal answered.

“I didn’t think so,” El added. “But why do you do that? You didn’t have to bring that up.” She kept on prepping food, but she could feel Neal’s eyes on her.

“We both know that’s the only reason I’m here.”

El rolled her eyes. “Yes, because I usually have the targets of Peter’s investigations over for dinner—that was sarcasm, if it wasn’t clear. Neal, if I didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be in my house right now. You’re here because I’d like it if we got to know each other better.”

“But...why?” he asked, sounding genuinely baffled.

“Because Peter cares about you, and that tells me you’re worth caring about.” El arranged the hens in a deep-sided baking dish. Neal didn’t answer for a while, and she hoped he was mulling that over. 

After a few minutes, El put the hens in the oven and put Neal’s completed salad into the fridge with cling wrap over it. “Perfect,” she said. “Now we wait. The hens take a little over an hour. Hopefully Peter will be home by then.”

She led the way into the living room and called for Satchmo. He curled up on the couch between her and Neal, who immediately started showering him with affection.

“Elizabeth?”

“Uh huh?”

“Can I ask you something—honestly?”

“Sure.” El hadn’t seen much of the really serious side of Neal before, so she gave him her full attention and listened.

“What—do you think of me?”

For some reason, this felt to El like a punch in the gut. It might not have seemed like that wild of a question, but it was clearly coming from somewhere far deeper in Neal than the surface, a place he was usually afraid to go but had dared to tread with her. His vulnerability was painful in its childlike directness.

She remembered babysitting the little boy next door when she’d been a teenager. He’d been terrified of water until she’d held his hand and led him into the swimming pool. Neal’s wide, slightly insecure eyes evoked that memory.

“I think you’re smart,” she said, “and damaged. I don’t care what your record says; you have a moral code. You have a huge heart, but you’re afraid to get close to people and get hurt, so you deceive them to stay in control. You work well with Peter because he’s the one person you can’t control, but he’s also not going anywhere. You obviously didn’t get that consistency as a kid—and you deserved it. I hope you’ll be good enough to yourself to stay with it now, to finally let yourself trust that you’re not alone.”

Neal stared out the window, his hand resting on Satch’s head, and El couldn’t read his expression. She thought she had very likely overstepped, but she despised beating around the bush. If Neal was going to be a part of Peter’s life for the foreseeable future, he might as well know what he was getting with her, too.

“Thanks,” he finally said, looking over at her. “And you should know, I’ve never tried to get anything over on you, either, and I never will. The first night we met, I could tell you’re the kind of person who could never be a mark.” El figured he could be lying, but she really didn’t think so. Her intuition rarely failed her, and she saw truth in those eyes. 

“Could we go with something less creepy than a mark and less—Peter—than a handler? How about—friend who’s like an older sister?” El made eye contact and smiled, trying to lighten the mood again.

“I’d like that,” Neal said. 

—

After dinner, once Neal was back at his apartment and the dishes were done, El plopped down next to her husband on the sofa. Peter put his arm around her and smiled. “Nice night. Neal is pretty good company, right?”

El nodded. “I saw his—intense—side earlier. Peter, he was like a kid. He asked me what I think of him, and it seemed like it really mattered to him.”

“I’m sure it does,” Peter answered with a sigh. “Caffrey is both enthralled and terrified by people he can’t manipulate. He thinks anybody who isn’t under his spell is on the verge of leaving or rejecting him at any minute.”

“Well,” said Elizabeth, “that means we’d better stick around, even if he makes it tough.”

Peter smiled. “I’m glad you’re getting in as deep as I am. Sometimes I think I’m crazy.”

El shook her head. “No, he’s worth it. I’m sure about that.”

Peter kissed her. “I love how you see the best in people.”

“And I love how you see the worst, but you keep trying anyway,” El answered.


End file.
